Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Justice Umesh C. Banerjee, Former Chief Justice, Andhra Pradesh High Court and Former Judge, Supreme Court of India has been appointed as one man enquiry committee by the Board of Governors “to enquire into the unfortunate incident that took place at IIT Kharagpur on 22nd March 2009 and to examine whether there was any lapse on the part of B.C. Roy Technology Hospital or not”.Through a written correspondence to Mr. Banerjee (Memo no. ESTT/149/2009 dated March 25, 2009), the institute has requested him to complete the enquiry and submit the report within 30 days.The institute will arrange for all assistance in the enquiry, including expenses.

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The UPA government setup Umesh Chandra Banerjee committee for Godhra train burning case which claimed that the fire which burned the carriage was accidental and was not the result of the mob attack, though this claim is widely disagreed upon, many independent organizations also questioned the fact that a whole train with many carriages could be engulfed in seconds in fire from small amounts of cooking oil from one carriage. The accusation that the mob did not set fire to the train was seen as a political move from the now ruling Congress government to give the opposition, Hindu Nationalist-BJP a bad image and appease the Muslim community. The Gujarat High Court ruling, as of 2006[update], has declared as illegal the setting up of the Umesh Chandra Banerjee committee, which had concluded the fire started by accident. [2] Investigations are still ongoing. Subsequently, Supreme Court stayed the circular of Banerjee committed report.

In September 2008 the Nanavati Commission confirmed that the attack on the train was pre-planned. The report claims that Hassan Lalu had thrown burning objects into the train and 140 litres of petrol had been used to put the train on fire, adding stones were thrown on passengers by the mob to stop them from fleeing.

It is also important to mention UC Banerjee is related to administration at IIT Kharagpur to a large extent as he is a relative of one of our professors.

Secondly he is a visiting faculty at Rajiv Gandhi school of Intellectual property rights set up inside campus

Third point I will like to mention is on duty doctor NK Som is not yet suspended, Dr. Acharya in his four point report said that on duty doctor is already suspended (did neone told u about cancellation of suspension!!!!!)

It is very sad to learn that a so-called external one man enquiry committee has been appointed only to table the report "The death of student was mere an accident,institute is in no way responsible for it".We need to rise to the occasion and prevent Justice U C Banerjee,whose integrity is under doubt, from putting a politically motivated report. Were the student representatives consulted?It is an unpardonable sin committed by the institute.

This is the way that the Ministry has always subdued contentious issues like this. Just before the LS elections no government would want to get their hands dirty, thus the UC Banerjee commission and the possibility of the return of D Acharya.

Also a very weird thing to be noticed was the absence of any retrospective Media coverage on the gravity of the incident and the appalling conditions that led to the outburst on 22nd March by the students.

Again, like always the same fake promises are being made by IIT administration to calm the students and shadowy measures are being taken by the Central Government.

Though there seems to be no respite from all the cheating on the part of our esteemed administration which has ended up losing credibility and trust among the student community, this issue is being and will be followed through.

I urge the students to discuss the possibility of writing a series of letters to various print media editorial as the news channels are interested only in 'masala' and 'breaking news' stuff. The developments are being closely monitored by local newspapers such as 'Anandabazar Patrika' and 'Aaj'. Also the possibility of enforcing the 'Right To Information Act' in matters regarding issues related to students' welfare may be discussed.

Five years is a long time in the life of an individual. When we come to an institute of such repute as IIT, we do expect there to be the basic amenities of livable rooms, healthy food, good hygiene and spacious classrooms. Not only does the institute fail to provide us with any of the above while the fees are being increased without discretion but also when the time comes they shun responsibility. Needless to say, the students are appalled and pray for the best outcomes.

Please junta...let us not lose focus of the most important issue right now....PROTEST AGAINST UC BANERJEE COMMITTEE... Please be united and protest when BOG chairman arrives...THIS IS OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE...This is the only chance Rohit has for justice...Please protest against a one man committee also since it can be easily influenced by politics.

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Awaaz is a monthly Hindi campus magazine at IIT Kharagpur. Reaching over 7,000 students and faculty members, as well as alumni, we bring all the latest happenings, news, views and several articles and features of general interest.
For several years now, Awaaz has been the chronicles of all the ups and downs of campus life. We have been the platform through which the students have conveyed their concerns and grievances. Time and time again, we have been an instrument of change.
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We at Awaaz, have constantly endeavoured upon to bring you the real story behind everything thats going around inside the campus in our national language. We never felt the need of a site or a blog as strongly, before this unfortunate incident that took place on Sunday, the 22nd of March. For us, it was very difficult to release a Hindi website in such a short time-span, so we are releasing this blog to remove the air of doubt thats prevailing among the students due to the lack of communication among the administration, students and student's representatives and be the "awaaz" of the campus' students. We promise you to bring a full-fledged website as soon as we can in our national language - Hindi.